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Pfizer Goes Shopping and Water Is Wet: News at 11!

Stop worrying about what the company might buy.

In an interview with the Financial Times published over the weekend, Pfizer's (NYSE:PFE) CEO Jeff Kindler said the company's willing to buy another company -- maybe big, maybe small. And no fewer than a dozen news articles jumped on the bandwagon (not including this one).

Is this something that investors really need? Must be a really slow news day.

For months now, Kindler's been saying that he'd like to make the best investments possible for the company. For instance, last March, Kindler said, "Purchasing growth for us, it has to make sense both from a value and a risk perspective and we will evaluate the tradeoffs carefully, while staying opportunistic." And investors should expect nothing less. Whether the purchase is a relatively large company like Gilead Sciences(NASDAQ:GILD), Amgen(NASDAQ:AMGN), or even Wyeth(NYSE:WYE) or a series of smaller acquisitions like GlaxoSmithKline(NYSE:GSK) announced last year with its purchases of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals and Genelabs Technologies, Pfizer needs to keep return at the fore.

Investors can't control how Pfizer spends its cash, but they've got to give Kindler and his team props for showing restraint in not making a purchase so far. If I had $26 billion burning a hole in my pocket I'd be itching to make a purchase. But Pfizer has showed restraint by, for instance, not jumping into a bidding war with Bristol-Myers Squibb(NYSE:BMY) and Eli Lilly(NYSE:LLY) over ImClone Systems.

Based on Kindler's statements, I expect it'll do the same with other potential purchases. In fact, doing nothing has been a pretty good strategy so far as many companies are looking a lot more attractive after last year's downturn.

If you're going to invest in Pfizer -- and I think that's a decent bet at this point -- then you've got to have faith that management is going to invest the company's cash wisely. It doesn't matter whether the purchase is big or small; what's important is that the purchase makes financial sense. If Pfizer can't find companies that will boost revenue and earnings more than the interest it derives from keeping the cash in the bank, Pfizer should return the money in the form of a higher dividend or stock buyback.

It's not just me who thinks that Pfizer is a good pick. Analysts at both theIncome InvestorandInside Valuenewsletters have recommended the company to their readers. Get their full write ups and access to their most recent picks with a free 30-day trial.

Fool contributorBrian Orelli, Ph.D., doesn't own shares of any company mentioned in this article.Glaxo is a current selection and Eli Lilly is a former selection of theIncome Investornewsletter. The Motley Fool owns shares in Pfizer.The Fool has adisclosure policy.